This invention relates to games and game equipment. More specifically, the invention relates to the games of croquet and bocce (lawn bowling), and to equipment for use in these games that allows play in either light or dark conditions.
Croquet and bocce are popular games that are enjoyed by many players. Briefly described, croquet play requires that a series of hoops or wickets are inserted into a playing surface, such as a lawn, to provide gates through which the croquet balls must pass in order for an individual player to advance his position in the game. Each player, in turn, strikes his or her croquet ball with a mallet to drive the ball in a specific order through the wickets. One goal of the game is to be the first to progress through the course of wickets.
Bocce, which is often called lawn bowling, is played on a court divided by a centerline. Play is begun by one team tossing a relatively small marker ball, sometimes called a xe2x80x9cpallinoxe2x80x9d, to act as a target for subsequent play. Each team then rolls their bocce balls in alternating turns (typically a total of eight balls, four for each of two teams) toward the pallino, with the goal being to roll the balls such that they are closer to the pallino than the opposing team""s balls. Play continues until all balls have been thrownxe2x80x94the team with the balls closest to the pallino is awarded points. The team that wins one frame begins the next frame by again throwing the pallino.
Bocce is a very different game from croquet. But like croquet, bocce requires the use of balls, and the game is best suited to outdoor play on a surface such as a lawn. While specialized bocce balls are available from many different sources, croquet balls work well as bocce balls and many players use the same balls for both games.
Both croquet and bocce are typically played during daylight hours since during dark periods it is difficult to see the playing equipment. Nonetheless, many players would like to continue play after dark if they could. Absent an externally lighted court, which would be expensive to build and maintain and therefore not a possibility for most players, play after dark is either not possible, or at least very difficult. The limitations imposed by darkness are of course common to many games, and various solutions have been developed. However, none of the known equipment that has been developed for the play of games after dark is suitably modified for use with the equipment used in croquet and bocce.
One solution to the problems associated with the play of games at night is to use LEDs to illuminate game equipment. Vandermaas in U.S. Pat. No. 5,611,720 and Toth et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,607,226 describe a means for making sports equipment useable after dark by embedding LEDs into the devices. Vandermass"" patent discloses a flying disk toy that has a plurality of LEDs arranged around a raised center section. A fairly complicated switching mechanism, activated by rotational movement of the disk to intermittently open and close the electrical circuit, intermittently illuminates the LEDs to cause a rapid flashing effect. Toth et al. describes street hockey equipment that is illuminated by LEDs contained in the equipment (i.e., the stick, puck and goal posts). But wherever LEDs are used, the equipment requires the use of batteries to provide a source of electrical current to illuminate the LEDs. This is not desirable because the batteries need to be replaced, and fresh batteries may not be readily available when they are needed. Finally, the Vandermaas and Toth et al. inventions require electronic circuits that may not be well suited to strong, repeated mechanical shock, although a hockey stick and puck certainly would be exposed to such shock.
Swigert in U.S. Pat. No. 5,595,388 describes a dark court game apparatus that utilizes equipment that is modified to reflect the light provided by illumination sources on the perimeter or bottom of the game area. Such inventions are not suitable for use outdoors or away from sources of power for the illumination. In addition, significant preparation of the court is required prior to use, which limits the ease of use.
Other prior art relies upon chemical illuminants to modify game equipment for use during the night. For instance, Newcomb et al, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,930,776 describes a technique for inserting a chemical illuminant into a translucent, thin walled ball that is required to have many holes on the surface. The xe2x80x9clight stickxe2x80x9d is formed into a circular ring, thereby activating the chemoluminescent chemicals contained in the stick. The ring is then inserted into the ball through one of the holes on the surface. Such a design is not suitable for sports such as croquet or bocce, both of which require the ball to be reasonably heavy in comparison to the described Wiffle(copyright) ball. Moreover, in the disclosed ball the light stick defines an equatorial member that has a mass extending around the ball""s equator, just inwardly of the relatively thin outer wall. This structure results in a ball having unequal equal rotational moments of inertia around different axes, which in turn will cause the ball to wobble as it is rolled across a surface. While such uneven rotational movement may be desirable, or at least acceptable in a lightweight Wiffle(copyright) ball, it is unacceptable in a croquet and bocce ball.
Similarly, Thill, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,080,359, describes another thin shelled ball which includes doors fabricated into the surface of the ball with living hinges to allow insertion of the chemoluminescent device into the hollow cavity of the ball. The ball disclosed by Thill suffers the same rotational movement problems as the Newcomb et al. ball described above. Moreover, Thill""s combination of a thin-shelled ball having hinged doors make the balls unsuitable for use in croquet or bocce.
Woosley in U.S. Pat. No. 5,403,000 describes yet another variant of a ball game that utilizes chemoluminescent devices to illuminate the equipment. Like Newcomb et al. and Thill, Woosley""s ball has a relatively thin skin, and in this case is inflatable, as in the case of a basketball. The nominally opaque ball includes selected areas that are of reduced thickness and which are translucent or transparent (for instance, the seams on a basketball). A chemoluminescent capsule is inserted into a transparent or translucent housing attached to the shell of the ball. Light from the capsule is visible through the thinned seams. As with the balls described above, the Woosley ball results in the destruction of the degeneracy of the moment of inertia since the ball will have three very different moments of inertia. Not only would this ball thus have wobble problems when rolled, but the because the ball is relatively thin-skilled and inflated, it is not adaptable for croquet or bocce as the ball needs to be nominally heavy and translucent for excellent visibility at night. Woosley also describes using illuminants attached to standard basketball hoops or nets with removable clips to allow for night play. Such removable clips are not suitable for use with a croquet wicket because they could be knocked off the wicket and lost in the lawn. The clips could eventually be picked up by a lawnmower and destroyed and possibly turning into a dangerous projectile.
Finally, a known product is being sold using batteries and LEDs to illuminate bocce balls. This product is called Skizzo and is produced by Knight Sports of 508 S. Wilson St., Kennewick, Wash. 99336. This product is for lawn bowling games only, and not croquet. The balls reportedly weigh about 6.2 ounces with batteries and are slightly weighted on one side. Being differentially weighted on one side, these Skizzo balls plainly suffer from the uneven rotational movement described above, though the manufacturers of the product tout this as a means of creating more of a challenge to players. In addition, this product has the disadvantages of the need for batteries, the relatively light weight of the balls, and electronics that may be broken with severe mechanical shock.
There is a need, therefore, for equipment designed for use in the games of croquet and bocce that address the problems found in the prior art.
The present invention uses commercially available chemoluminescent light sticks and necklaces as illuminants to illuminate the balls used in lawn games such as bocce, as well as croquet. In a preferred embodiment the invention comprises a ball structurally designed to overcome the rotational dynamics problems associated with the prior art when chemoluminescent light sticks are incorporated into the ball. As such, the ball demonstrates negligible wobble when rolled and the presence of the light stick does not interfere with or change the dynamics of play. Moreover, the inventive ball is designed to be heavier to facilitate croquet and bocce play. In one embodiment the ball utilizes a relatively thin yet impact resistant outer wall and includes weighting material in the hollow interior to both add weight and to correct for rotational irregularities resulting from inclusion of a light stick in the ball. The relatively thin outer wall allows for good light transmission and the interior weighting is designed to provide good rolling characteristics and mass. For the best transmission of light, a major percentage of the ball""s surface is translucent or transparent, although the balls demonstrate adequate visibility even when a relatively lower percentage of the surface area is translucent or transparent. In a second embodiment the ball features a relatively thicker outer wall in which weight distribution in the outer shell dominates moments of inertia perturbations resulting from molded design constraints and the presence of an asymmetric light stick.
The present invention also is embodied in wickets adapted for use with chemoluminscent necklaces for use at night, and which may also be used during daylight. Stakes and mallets that are used in the play of croquet are adapted for enhancing play of croquet during dark hours.